Why Dermatology Practices Should Consider Integrated RCM

Revenue cycle management (RCM) for dermatology is experiencing a major transformation, whereby practices are better understanding the impact of people, processes and technology working seamlessly together to improve performance — and ultimately financial results. This has paved the way for outsourced integrated RCM solutions that handle all aspects of dermatology medical billing operations so that you and your practice can focus exclusively on patient care.

By letting experts manage your revenue cycle management process, you’re actually gaining greater control over your business and financial performance, with greater peace of mind knowing you are optimizing revenue and cash flow through more efficient reimbursements and higher collections.

To that end, a multitude of vendors have entered the space with single point solutions to manage discrete functions of the revenue cycle, typically falling into three main categories:

An Electronic Health Records (EHR)System is an electronic version of a patient’s medical history maintained by the provider and often includes patient data such as demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations and other reports.

Practice Management is a type of software that deals with the day-to-day operations of a dermatology practice, enabling users to capture patient demographics, schedule appointments, maintain lists of insurance payors, perform billing tasks and generate reports.

A holistic, integrated RCM solution brings all of these components together, managed by specialty experts and proven processes, to help you get paid what you deserve.

Benefits of Integrated Revenue Cycle Management for Dermatology

The revenue cycle can be complicated. Therefore, many practices welcome the streamlining and integration of administrative, technological, financial and patient-level processes that contribute to your bottom-line performance. After all, if revenue cycle and billing processes don’t receive proper attention from staff — leading to waste, inefficiencies and unaccounted revenue — your practice’s financial health can suffer considerably.

Below are some of the key benefits delivered with an integrated RCM solution for dermatology:

Single Source of Information–All patient data is stored in one place and is automatically updated across systems, so everyone has access to and is working from the same information. This reduces errors, lack of information, miscommunication and potential risk of lost data between systems.

Increased Practice Efficiency–Managing separate systems for patient data and claims processing, costs your staff and practice valuable time, energy and money. An integrated solution reduces effort and streamlines processes so that you have more resources for delivering patient care, while saving costs.

Timely, Accurate Communications–With multiple staff members and physicians accessing the same information, your practice requires efficient coordination and communication across the system, using the same up-to-date information, so that nothing is lost through transmission or translation.

Improved Collections and Cash Flow–Lack of integration and information leads to decreased collections, from both insurance providers and patients, as well billing delays from errors or discrepancies in the billing system. An integrated solution ensures your collections match what’s billed, to improve payments and cash flow.

Improved Patient Payments–With consumers paying more of their healthcare costs directly, your practice needs to ensure prompt payment collection and viable payment plans for services rendered. This often involves new technology and processes, and, even more so, skilled people to perform courtesy follow-up on unpaid balances.

Greater Visibility and Insight–By providing easy access and a holistic view of your clinical and financial data, an RCM solution gives you the information needed for stronger oversight and better decisions related to your dermatology medical billing operations and performance.

Decreased IT Maintenance–Your focus should be on quality patient care, not systems integration, software updates, troubleshooting and other information technology (IT)-related issues. Implementing an integrated solution is relatively easy, and most important, saves you time, money and stress in ongoing IT maintenance.

Preparation for the Future–As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, including the shift to value-based performance, your revenue cycle management needs to keep pace. Deploying an integrated RCM solution puts the people, processes and technology in place to ensure you are positioned for success, today and well into the future.

The first step is to ask the right questions about your current dermatology medical billing operations to gain an understanding of key metrics, such as:

How much do I generate in total clinical collections?

What is my net collection ratio (percentage of money collected against the amount you are legally owed)?

What are your current insurance adjustments and write-offs, and is all of it justified?

What is my days sales outstanding (how long it takes to collect money from date of service)?

What are my current outstanding A/R balances, and how much is collected within 0-60 days?

If you can’t answer these questions or retrieve the data on your own, a free cash flow analysis from a trusted revenue cycle management company can yield the insight into your performance and determine the value of integrated RCM for your dermatology practice.